Yellow, Teddy Bears, and Fun

Sometimes it's quite an achievement to have all your activities and ideas for a theme to flow correctly.  Today actually was one of those days that things just flowed the way they were supposed to.  During Circle Time I introduced our Winter Theme.  We talked about the weather, winter animals, and that brought us to BEARS.  Who doesn't love bears.  We read Bears Feels Scared, by Karma Wilson  It was a cute book, not quite what I wanted to read today, I wanted to read Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson, but I couldn't find my copy :)  of course.  

We also talked about the color Yellow, the number 3, and introduced the letter Aa.  We read Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom!!  by Bill Martin Jr & John Archambault which is a favorite of mine and the kids.  I wasn't sure how all these seemingly random things would come together for us, but they did.  We made a sun (that was yellow) to help Bear feel not so afraid, we found yellow around the room, we related the letter Aa to different things around the room that start with that letter, and at lunch decided we should name our bear an Aa name.  So, tomorrow we will pick one.   

Bear sat with us for Circle Time, and while we were waiting for our lunch to cook we played the jump rope game (without the jump rope) Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around!!  Lots of fun, giggles, falling down, and spinning around!!!

We counted out 3 YELLOW gumballs for our Gumball Machine

Little Man showing off the YELLOW in his shirt

Painting is always so much fun

Not sure which is more fun, getting the paint on the plate or her hands!!

Very serious work going on!!

Lil Bit enjoyed working with all three paintbrushes, swapping them out and having one in both hands as much as she could :)

Scamp loves sitting in chairs now and will climb up into one any chance she gets.  Today I found her with these 2 little people at the table just moving them about and jabbering away to them... she was very cute!!

Lets just hope the whole week flows like today and we get all our crafts and projects in.  Although, tomorrow is supposed to be mighty warm out and we may have to scrap it all and play outside... warm weather isn't likely to happen much in the next couple of months.

The Day After Valentine's Day

Does it ever seem that the day after a party day is sluggish and the kids can be unmotivated?? Coming off all that sugar can cause us all to be a little out of sorts, I think. Yet, Little Man was having none of this sluggish business... he was movin, he was shakin, and he was playin!!!


Do you think babies evewn have a slow button?? Not this guy. I think what annoys him more is that he can't keep up with the big kids yet. He can't run after them outside... he is always yelling and trying to get down when we are outside. I think he'll be walking soon.

Today was a great day to build in the foyer, where all the sunshine just poured into the house. Even though the kids were not so motivated to do any of our learning activities, they had no problem building this Dinosaur/Zhu Zhu Pet Castle. They worked together, counted out blocks (so everyone could have an equal amount), problem solved when Sprout wanted to sit right in the middle of the castle, and a lot of communication between all of them. I even overheard D-Man giving Little Miss M the words she should be using when she wanted something from someone else. Ahhh, you have to love those moments.

Dress Up Time!! They wore these little dresses all morning. Through Circle Time, Snack Time, Play Time... they only took them off when I told them we were going to walk to the park.

Reading Books... Little Miss M told me she was the Mommy.

While Little Man took his early nap, we enjoyed circle time. We reviewed our ABC's (forward and backwards), Princess went through all the letters and gave the sound for almost every letter. We counted to 11, forward and backward... we found 11 things around the room and made patterns with some of the things we found.

Then we had a real treat, Little Miss M brought her Mixed Up Chameleon to school. Her Mom must have bought the Kohls book and stuffed animal for her and she brought them in to share with us. We got to read the book, while Mr. Chameleon watched from his perch on my chair. We even were able to move him around the room and pretend that he was sitting real still, waiting for his Fly to come by. Then we pretended we were Chameleon's and sat real still and quiet, only moving our eyes. Then we found a fly, out shot our long, sticky tongues... Yum, Yum!!

When Little Man woke, we got ready and took a nice walk to the neighborhood park. I love our park because not only does it have a nice climbing structure, but it has enough room for the kids to run in the grass, explore trees and dirt, and roll down little hills to their hearts content. That was how we spent the rest of our morning... now I am exhausted. They all get to take a nice nap after lunch... I have to wait until bedtime... they don't know how good they have it!!! I hope this weather lasts awhile :)

A New Year

Happy New Year to All!!!

Well, the story of my life... I can't find the wire to my camera!! I just can't seem to get a handle on those darn wires. We changed the living room around for the holidays, so hopefully they are in the couch somewhere.

Anytime we have a long break I like to take a week to review and readjust to our routines. So, we are exploring the theme Friendship. We read, The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister. I love the way the kids "get" that the Rainbow Fish was very lonely when he didn't share his scales. Then when he finally did share, he was happy. A great lesson for us to learn here at Child Care.

We then made our very own Rainbow Fish, where we took scrap booking paper and tore off pieces and then passed (shared) it to our friends to have a turn with it. They had a great time gluing, tearing, & sharing. It was great for our little ones too, the fine motor skills were great for them to practice. Tearing is a hard skill for a 2 yr old to learn, but when they do... watch out :)

We also read The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein. We talked about how the tree loved the boy so much and how she loved giving him the things he needed. We then talked about how the boy was able to give back his love to the tree when she was sad. The kids liked this book.

Nature walks, trips to the park and running around the block were among our favorite outside activities this week. My yard has been a little muddy due to the weather, so we got our outside time other ways. The baby loved going down the slide with the kids, but trying to eat the mulch was another favorite activity of his.

So far our week is going great. Getting back into routines is always hard, but as the week goes by we are remembering the rules and routines.

Books, Crafts & Walks

We have been very busy learning about the letter Jj, Jolly 'Ol St. Nicholas, Christmas, and the birth of a very special Person, Jesus. Our favorite stories right now are, The Story of Christmas, by Patricia Pingry and Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear, by Don and Audrey Woods (2 of my most favorite authors!!).

Our crafts have been keeping us busy also. We have made some cute wreaths, hand print snowflakes, Christmas trees, and Starlet, the star from the board book The Tiny Star, by Arthur Ginolfi, who is so small no one can see her. She shines up in the sky for many years, with no one seeing her beauty, until the night Jesus is born. She then comes down to the stable, and seeing the newborn babe in the cold and dark stable, she begins to shine so warm and bright that she floats up in the sky to become the beacon for the Shepherds and Wise Men to find Baby Jesus. It was another favorite book of ours.

I wish I could show you some photos, but my camera cables are missing. I am the queen of clutter, so I am sure they will turn up soon and I will download them then.

We have had some rainy weather here, and my yard is sometimes very muddy, usually we don't mind, but it has also grown cold... and wet, muddy hands make for some unhappy children. We have also been taking some really wonderful neighborhood walks. Going to the park, our Rain Walk, Nature Hunt walk, and today we went to see how many Santa's we could find hanging out in our neighborhood (we found 6). The kids are getting some needed outdoor time, fresh air and having a lot of fun exploring their environment. (them getting tired and sleepy is just an added bonus :) )

Ee for The Emperor's Egg

Today we read the book The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins. It is a beautiful little book that tells the tale of how the Emperor Penguin takes care of their Egg until their Chick hatches. Great illustrations and text for young children. It seemed like it would be long, but the kids were very attentive and their was a lot of interaction while reading.

After reading we broke up into Quiet Work and Center Time. One of the centers was making an Emperor Egg... today we glued on white tissue paper. It has to dry and then on Friday we will make our baby chick and cut the egg so it can open and close and we can see the little penguin inside. I have been visiting Jackie at Pocketful of Posie's a lot lately, and again I got this idea from her. Jackie had the egg hatching an "e" we will be hatching an chick, but the idea came from her. Thanks Jackie!!

We also practiced writing our letters on the chalkboards, built tall towers in the block center, made delicious morning snacks in the housekeeping center, babies had tummy time, and the reading corner with all the new Halloween books got a lot of traffic today too. Another Great Day at Kozy Kids!!!

End of our 1st Week

Well our first official week of Child Care has come to an end. I made it :) We are working out all the kinks and getting into our groove again. Babies need to be fed, potty runs need to be made, and rules need to be reinforced... all at a slow pace. I forgot what it was like teaching the last crew we had all the routines and rules. Now I'm remembering :)



We start our day with free choice play. This way I can get breakfast ready for everyone, feed the baby and gather our days work (this is the hope at least, it doesn't always get done). After breakfast we continue playing until Ms Beth comes to play. We then have a circle time and story. We have been reading The Kissing Hand and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom... 2 really great books.

Since we are working on appropriate behavior, following routines, and how to use our materials appropriately, I introduced glue sticks. We made a Square Collage, where we used our Sticky Glue Sticks. I worked one on one with our littlest ones on how to go back and forth with the stick, instead of banging it against the paper. It may take a while, but I think we are getting the hang of it.

We don't usually do group art activities, but I am using the modeling from the older kids to help the little ones to use the materials correctly.

This Little Guy has the best smile (and you should hear him laugh)... he is having fun playing with his new friends and lots of toys.

Modeling Routine Practices again... they really had fun with this activity. My Princess was such a good teachers helper.

Some outside playtime... the weather has been so beautiful, warm with a nice breeze. The kids are using this time to get reacquainted with their outdoor surroundings.

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

We welcomed March today. It's nice knowing that Spring is just right around the corner. Although, I must reconcile myself to the fact that In Like a Lion and Out Like a Lamb is probably how this month will play out. A few more weeks of cold, blustery weather is not what I want, but if that is what it will take to get to the warm stuff at the end of the month, then so be it.

We started our morning off with this book I found this week at Barnes & Noble. I wanted a book to extend our Letter Ll theme, and something that related to the Lion/Lamb theme. This book is wonderful. "Library Lion" by Michelle Knudsen. It is about a Lion that wanders into the Library and makes himself comfortable. One of the workers, Mr. McBee, feels that Lions don't belong in the Library. Miss Merriweather, the head librarian, feels if the lion is following the rules, he can stay. Which he does, he especially loves story hour. He becomes a help to Miss Merriweather. One thing not allowed in the library is Roaring. And when Miss Merriweather falls down, breaks an arm, and needs help... the lion tries to get Mr. McBee to come and help and has to Roar to het him to help Miss Merriweather. Then the lion feels he has to leave the library because he broke the rules. Everyone is sad when the Lion doesn't come back, even Mr. McBee. Miss Merriweather states that sometimes it's Ok to break the rules, and Mr. McBee goes and finds the Lion to let him know he is missed at the Library, by everyone, especially Miss Merriweather. It is a feel good book, with a wonderful feel good ending... yes, I even got choked up at the end. I LOVE BOOKS!!!

We began our Lion Heads... we painted and glued on his mane today.

Tomorrow we will finish the face.

Then we got to spend some time outside in the front yard. We usually spend the majority of time in the backyard, but I like to switch it up sometimes to keep the kids interested :) We had a ball riding bikes, decorating coups, and running, running, running!!!

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss's Birthday!! We will enjoy many Dr. Seuss Books, some Green Eggs & Ham for Breakfast, and making some Oobleck with Bartholomew and Oobleck.
It will be a Fun Filled, Silly Day :)

Lunch today was Pasta & Meatballs (special veggie infused meatballs) with Pink Sauce, crackers, oranges, and Milk